Dual hinge



H. E. DAWDY Feb. 16, 1954 DUAL HINGE Filed March 18, 1952 INVENTOR. HAELEY E. DAM/D Patented Feb. 15, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OF F [ICE 1 DUAL HINGE I Harley E. Dawdy, East Alton, Ill.

. Application March.18, 1952,.Serial'No. 277,134

' 2 Claims. (Cl. 16 -146) This invention relates to a hinge, and more particularly,.has reference to a hinge of the dual type. I

"It proposed to provide a hinge as stated that willbe usuable for many purposes. For exam ple, the hinge formed in accordance with'the present invention can be used for connecting the legs of a sawhorse to the support member thereof, for movement of said legs to folded or extended positionsas desired. Still further, the hingeis usable as a component of folding road barricades, card ta'bles,and the like.

' It isobviously desirable to provide a dual hinge so formed as to be capable of serving as a connecting means between various pivotally connected parts of a device such as has been mentioned above, so that said parts can be folded compactly and stored when the device is not in use, and adjusted readily to operative positions whenever desired.

One important object of the present invention is to provide a hinge as stated which will be capable of manufacture at relatively low cost, but which will nevertheless be highly durable and so formed as not to'readily get out of order.

Another important object is to provide a hinge as described wherein there will be embodied a novel locking means specifically adapted to lock the coacting parts of the hinge in an operative position thereof.

Yet another important object is to provide a hinge as stated that can be readily secured to the particular members of the structure on which the hinge is tobe mounted.

"Other objects will appear from the following description; the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference'characters designate like parts'throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a side' elevational'view of a dual hinge formed. in accordance with the present invention, the hinge being illustrated as it appears when connected to the legs and support member'of a sawhorse or trestle, the trestle being illustrat'ed in dotted lines, an inoperative or folded position .'of the hinge also being illustrated in dotted lines;

Figure 2 is an'end elevational view'of the hinge as it appears when viewed from the left of Figure 1;and

.Figure 3' is an-enlarged detail sectional view taken substantially on line 33 of Figure 1.

Referring'to the drawings in detail, the reference'letter A has been applied to designate the support member. or crosspiece of a sawhorse or trestle, the reference letter B being used to designate the legs of said trestle. In this connection, asa'whorse or trestle has been illustrated in the presentei-nstanceas'one type of structure to which the dual hinge is readily applied. However, itwill be understood that the. hinge hasuniversa'r'application, and can .be used with ,equal facilitypn'card tables;road barricades, and many 2 other structures in which a foldable or articulated structure is desired.

"Iniany event the hinge formed in accordance with the presentinvention includes a first leaf designated generally by the reference numeral l0, said leaf being formed as a plate memberof angular formation; having a fiat base leg l2 and a lock support leg related perpendicularly to said base leg.

The lock support leg. has been so termed because its'main function is to' support one part of a locking device embodied in the hinge, said locking device being described hereinafter. The

lock support leg includes a leg portion I4 integral with one end'of the base leg l2 and extending'at right'angles to said base leg, the outer end of said leg portion I4 being integral with a second. leg portion it which is-folded upon the first leg portion and merges into an end portion I9 coplanar with the base leg I2. The leg portions land It together form the lock support leg mentioned herein; said leg projecting outwardly from the support member A when the base. leg and end portion are fixedly attached to said support memher.

For the purpose of fixedlyv securing the base leg I 2 and end portion l8 to the support member A, openings -are formed in said base leg and end portion, receiving screws 20 or equivalent fastening elements, that extend into the support member A.

At the other end of the base leg l2, a'pair of coaxial hinge sleeves 22 are provided, said sleeves being integral with the base leg and being spaced apart'transversely thereof. Interposed between the hinge sleeves 22' is a hinge sleeve 24 (Figure 2), that is aligned 'coaxially with the sleeves 22, and is formed integrally with a second hinge leaf 26. The second'leaf 26 is of U-shaped formation, and is formed with a bight 28 integral at its opp'osite ends with parallel arms 30, 32. As will be notedfrom Figure 1, the bight 28 is so arranged relative to the arms '30, 32 as to be disposed at an acute angle to the arm 30 and at an obtuse angle to the arm 32. The hinge sleeve 24, in this connection, is disposed exteriorly of the space defined between the arms 30 and 32 and bight 28, and is rigid with one end of the bight. As a result, when the hinge leaf 26 is swung to one position, shown in full lines in Figure 1, that end of the bight 28 merging into the arm 30 is in contact withithebase leg l2 ofsthe'first hingeleaf l 0. When, however,xthe hinge leaf 26 is .swung to another. extremeaposition, shown in dotted lines in Figure Lsaidleaf 26 will be disposed beyond one end of the base leg. The second-named position of the leaf 26, for clarity of description, Wil

termed the folded or inoperative position thereof,

" while the first-named .position of the leafZB will be termed the extended or operative position .of said second leaf.

For the purpose of pivotally mounting. the second. leaf:128,upon the first. leaf |0',.for swinging movement between the stated extreme positions,

a hinge bolt 33 is extended through the coaxially aligned sleeves 22, 24, respectively.

I form in the arm 30 a smooth-walled opening, and in the arm 32 there is formed a threaded opening 36 (Figure 3) registering with the opening of the arm 30, for extension of a pivot bolt 34 through both openings. The pivot bolt 34, at one end, is threaded for engagement with the threads of the opening 36, and a nut 38 is threadedly engaged with said threads of the pivot bolt 34 to lock the pivot bolt against accidental separation from the respective arms of the second hinge leaf 26.

Pivotally mounted upon the second hinge leaf 25 are third and fourth hinge leaves 40 and 42 respectively. The third leaf 40 has a single hinge sleeve 44 at one end, said hinge sleeve being interposed between hinge sleeves 46 formed upon one end of the fourth leaf 42, for extension of the pivot bolt 34 through the several sleeves 44, 46.

By reason of this arrangement, the third and fourth hinge leaves are pivotally mounted upon the second leaf 26 for swinging movement upon an axis normal to the axis of pivotal movement of the second leaf 26.

The leaves 4F}, 42 are adapted for connection to the respective legs B of the illustrated trestle, and receive screws or equivalent fastening elements, that extend through openings 50 formed in said leaves 40, 42, the screws 48 extending into the legs B of the trestle.

Thus, it will be seen that when the leaves 40, 42 are swung toward one another, the legs B of the sawhorse or trestle will be disposed in longitudinally contacting relation, and subsequently swinging movement of the second hinge leaf 26 to the dotted line position thereof illustrated in Figure 1 will be effective to swing the folded legs into longitudinally contacting relation with the under side of the crosspiece or support member A of the horse or trestle.

The invention includes a lock means for retaining the second hinge leaf 26 in the extended, operative position thereof, and to this end, a lock plate 52 is pivotally connected adjacent its lower end to an angle bracket 58 carried by the third hinge leaf 49 by means of a screw or bolt 56, the lock plate 52 being also loosely connected intermediate its upper and lower end to the leg or arm 30 of the second hinge leaf 26 by means of a bolt 54, whereby the lock plate 52 may have limited movement about its pivot 56 independent of the movement of the hinge leaf 43 about its pivot 34.

At its other or upper end, the lock plate 52 has a locking recess 60 formed in one of its longitudinal edges, said locking recess being adapted for engagement therein of a lock screw 62 carried by the lock support leg of the first leaf l0.

Assuming that the second hinge leaf 26 is in the operative or extended position thereof, and the third and fourth leaves 40, 42 are swung together, the lock plate 52 will be out of engagement with the lock screw 62. However, when the third and fourth hinge leaves are swung away from one another, to the position thereof illustrated in Figure 2, the lock plate 52 will be adjusted to a position in which the lock screw 62 will be caused to engage within the locking recess 6B. This has the effect of locking the second hinge leaf 26 in its extended position, with the bight 28 of said second hinge leaf being biased firmly into contact with the base leg l2 of the 4 first leaf I 0, to efiect the desired rigid connection between the first and second hinge leaves.

It is believed important to note that the mere swinging of the third and fourth hinge leaves 40, 42 to a spaced apart position will be effective to interengage the lock means carried by the first hinge leaf and the third hinge leaf respectively. Similarly, pressure applied to swing the hinge leaves 41] and 42 toward one another to their folded positions will be effective to disengage the lock means of the device, thereby to permit the second, third and fourth hinge leaves to be swun as a unit to the dotted line position as illustrated in Figure l.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor changes in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A dual hinge comprising: a first leaf including a base leg adapted for connection to a supportand a lock support leg related perpendicularly to and projecting from one end of the base leg; an inverted U-shaped second leaf having a pair of parallel arms and a loight extending therebetween positioned longitudinally of the,

base leg of said first leaf and having the portion of said bight adjacent one of said arms pivotally connected to the other end of the base leg of said first leaf for movement about an axis transverse of the latter named leg; and third and fourth leaves arranged in face to face relation and having one of their ends pivotally connected to said arms for pivotal movement about an axis normal to said first named axis toward and away from each other.

2. A dual hinge comprising: a first leaf including a base leg adapted for connection to a support and a lock support leg related perpendicularly to and projecting from one end of the base leg; an inverted U-shaped second leaf having a pair of parallel arms and a bight extending therebetween positioned longitudinally of the base leg of said first leaf and having the portion of said bight adjacent one of said arms pivotally connected to the other end of the base leg of said first leaf for movement about an axis transverse of the latter named leg; third and fourth leaves arranged in face to face relation and having one of their ends pivotally connected to said arms for pivotal movement about an axis normal to said first named axis toward and away from each other; and lock means pivotally connected to said third leaf and loosely connected to the other of said arms and engageable with a locking element carried by the lock support leg of said first leaf upon pivotal movement of said third and fourth leaves away from each other.

HARLEY E. DAWDY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

